Band-folding apparatus



May 20, 1930.

J. R. GAMMETER 1-,759,232

BAND FOLDING APPARATUS Filed Au 16, 1929 2 Shets-Sheet 1 May 20, 1930. J. R. GAMMETER 5 BAND FOLDING APPARATUS I 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 16, 1929 fi-nfm? Ja/m A 551 21 25725 Patented May 20, 1930 UNITED STATES JOHN R. GAMMETER, OF AKRON, OHIO BAND-FOLDING APPARATUS Application filed August 16, 1929. Serial No. 386,413.

This invention relates to machines for doubling or folding a band of sheet material. upon itself for the purpose of making anarticle such as an endless tube, a laminatedband for a pneumatic tire casing or the like. I have heretofore proposed to perform such folding operation by a blast or blasts of compressed air acting on one or both margins of the band. It has also been proposed to perform it mechanically by means of helicalspring rollers, arranged end to end in a circle and supported by spring arms mounted to.

slide coaxially with the forming drum.

My objects in the present invention are to provide mechanical means, more positive than the pneumatic device, for accomplishing the folding over of the material and to render such means more quick-acting and efficient than prior mechanical devices and better adapted for tire-band building and for-removal of the finished band. Of the accompanying drawings, Fig. 1 is a side elevation, partly in vertlcal section, showing a band-folding apparatus constructed according to my invention, with the foldin devices in their retracted position.

iig. 2 is a similar View showingthe folding devices projected to make the fold.

Fig. 3 is a partial vertical section on a larger scale, showing a finished tire band on the drum.

Fig. 4 is a partial end elevation of the operative elements.

Fig. 5 is a partial outer or rear end elevation.

In the drawings, 10 is a cylindrical bandforming drum fixed to the end of a horizontal power-driven shaft 11, and 12 is a disk-like pusher member for supportin the working tools, said member being sli mgly or telescopically mounted for reciprocating movement within the outer end of drum 10 and being formed with an outer, cylindrical, flan ed bearing member 13 engaging a cylindrical bearing surface on the inner side of the drum,

said member 12 also having a hollow hub 14.-

Drum 10, at about the middle thereof, is formed with a circumferential roove 15 and with a series of. longitudinal ots 16 extending from said groove to the outer end of the drum. 17, 17 are a series of longitudinal arms or rods mounted for radial positioning movement into and out of the slots 16, and also for longitudinal reciprocating movement with the pusher 12 to perform the folding 5& operation and the reverse or retracting movement. The arms 17 are individually mounted at the outer ends of a seres of actuating slides '18 fitted in external radial guideways 19 formed on the pusher 12 and held against axial displacement by retaining plates 20, said actuators 18 projecting through the slots 16, which latter are provided with relativel narrow inner portions 16 to receive sa1d actuators and with relatively-wide outer portions 16 to receive the arms 17 The side walls of the guide-ways 19 .are formed with recesses 21 and the rear or outer edges of the actuators 18 are formed with shallower recesses 22, these respective recesses being occupied by an endless, circumfer ntially-extending, helical spring 23, which acts collectively upon the several actuators 18 to retract the latter radially inward after they have been projected outwardly. The outward projection of the actuators 18 is accomplished by means of a ring 24 supported on the hub 14 of pusher 12 and having a-rounded forward corner adapted to exert a cam action upon the inclined inner edges 25 of the actuators when ring 24 is moved axially forward. The axial travel of ring 24 upon hub 14 is ac-' complished by rotation of said ring with a pair of horizontal handles 250 located at opposite points thereon, in conjunction with a 35 screw-thread connection between the ring and hub constituted by a helical groove 26 cut in the inner periphery of the ring and en-.

ageable with studs 27 fixed on the outersurace of the hub.

At the inner or forward ends of the arms 17, they carry a circumferentially-arran ed, endless, helical-sprin roller 28 retaine in ositionon thearms by means of U-shaped earing clips 30 in which the roller is adapted to turn for the purpose of acting on the sheet material to double or fold it over upon itself. Any other suitable roller structure,

expansible and contractible as a whole, could be substituted. 103

In the operation of this apparatus, assuming that a flat band for forming a pneumatic cord-tire casing is to be made, strips .31 of rubberized tire farbric, preferably two in number and successively applied to make a 2- ply construction with threads running diagonally in opposite directions'in the respective lies, are wrapped about the surface of the rum 10 and their ends united in a suitable splice to make "an endless laminate-d band, thisband beingof twice the width, or slightly more, of the tire band to be formed,

and the edges of the plies being stepped or staggered for tapering the carcass structure at the left-hand bead as viewed in Figs. 1, 2 and 3. The right-hand portion of said band extends out over the wire roller 22' and the arms 17 as shown in Fig. 1. The left-hand bead core 32, enclosed in the usual flipper, is

then laid over said-band 31 near its left-hand edge, and the right-hand flippered bead-core 33 is laid on the band parallel with bead core 32 at a distance therefrom corresponding to the desired width ofthe tire band to be formed.

The operator then grasps the handles 250 and by turning the cam rin clockwise around the axis 0% the drum, he causes it to move forward on its screw thread over the hollow hub 14 of the slide 12 and exert a cam action on the inclined inner ends of-the actuators 18, thus moving said actuators radially outward through the slots 16,

the actuators carrying with them the arms 17, expanding the band-folding roller 28, moving it out of the groove '15, expanding the right-hand portion of the band 31 which overlies the arms and spring roller and positively initiating the fo ding action adjacent to the bead core 33. I Then by pushing inwardly on the handles 250, the operator moves the slide 12 longitudinally inward, carrying with it the arms 17 and the spring roller 28 and the latter carries the band material over the bead 33 and then over the underlying portion of the hand between the bead cores until the left-hand bead core 32 is reached as represented in Fig. 2. The slide 12 and attached arts are then withdrawn to the outer end 0 the drum, the cam ring 24 is turned counter-clockwise and the spring 23 retracts the actuators 18 and arms 17 radially inward until the arms reenter the outer portions of the slots 16 and the spring roller 28 again rests in the roove 15.

The left-hand bea may then be completed" by folding inwardly the edges of the over-" lying fabric plies and the adhesion of the folded over portion of the band to the underlyinghportion may be rfected if desired by a'rol 'ng operation. he tire-formin band is then com leted b wra ping aroun it-the rubber tree and si ewa strip 34 having the breaker strap 35 inco 24 angularl'y" orated therein, abut-j ting its en sand rolling it down upon-theunderl 'ng carcass. The tire band is then slippe endwise of the drum over the depressed arms and sprin roller without requiring the removal 0 any mechanism.

Various chan es in the above described embodiment may e made without departing from the scope of my invention as defined in the claims.

I claim: v

1. Band-folding apparatus comprising a band support, means adapted to engage the parts of the inner side of the band adjacent the llne of fold, and mechanism for positively moving said means radially outward to initiate the :fold. and for then movingit longitudinally to complete the folding operation' 2. Band-folding apparatus comprisingnt band-supporting drum, folding means movable longitudinally thereover to double the -material upon itself, and operating mechanism for moving said means radially outwar to initiate the fold.

3. Band-folding apparatus comprising a band-supporting drum, a series of arms movable lon itudinally thereover and having band-fol ing means at their forward ends, and radially-movable actuating means for causing fold-initiating movements of said arms.

' 4. Band-foldin apparatus comprising a band support, and an endless, resilient bandfolding roller movable longitudinally therefolding roller. supported bysaid clips and adapted to turn therein. 7 l V 7. Band-fold'ng apparatus comprising a band support, a series of arms movable longitudinally thereover and having band-folding means, and a series of radially-slidable actuators carr ing said arms.

8. Ban -folding apparatus comprising a band-supporting drum, a series of arms, each movable as a whole radially and longitu dinally of said drum and having band-folding means, and an operating devicecommon to said arms for imparting radial movements thereto.

9. Band-folding apparatus comprising a band-supporting drum, band-foldingmeans movable radially of said drum and longitud nally thereover, a slide for imparting the lODgltlldlHfil movement, and an operating device on said slide movable angularly around the drum axis for imparting the radial movement.

10. Band-folding apparatus comprising a longitudinally-slottedband-supportingdrum, a series of actuators movable radially and longitudinally in the slots, and a seriesof arms carried by the actuators and having band-folding means.

11. Band-folding apparatus comprising a band-supporting drum, a slide movable longitudinally within the drum, and band-folding means carried by said slide and located outside of the drum.

12. Band-folding apparatus comprising a longitudinally-slottedband-supportingdrum, a longitudinal slide telescoping within the slotted portion of the drum and having a sev ries of radially-movable actuators passing through the drum slots, and a series of arms carried by said actuators and having bandfolding means.

' 13. Band-folding apparatus comprising a band-supporting drum, a series of band-folding arms movable radially of said drum and longitudinally thereover, a series of actuators carrying said arms, and a cam device common to said actuators for imparting radial outward movement thereto.

l4. Band-folding apparatus comprising a band-supporting drum, a series of band-folding arms movable radially of said drum and longitudinally thereover, means for yieldingly retracting said arms radially inward and means common to said arms for positively moving them as a group in an outward radial direction.

15. Band-folding apparatus comprising a band-supporting drum, a series of'band-folding arms movable as a group longitudinally thereover, a series of radially-movable actuators carrying said arms, and a spring common to said actuators and arranged circumfcrentially of the group for yieldingly retracting them.

16. Band-folding apparatus comprising a' band-supporting drum, a seriesof radiallymovable'band-folding arms associated therewith, a support for said arms, and an operating device mounted on said support and hav-v ing angular and longitudinal movements with respect to the drum for imparting the radial movements to said arms.

, 17. Band-folding apparatus comprising a -longitudinally-slottedband-slrpportingdrum,

band-folding arms adaptedtd rest in retracted position ithin the slots, a circumferential groove formed in the outer'drum surface, a

resilient band-folding roller carried at the forward ends of said arms and occupying 5421.1(1 groove when the arms are retracted, and

means for radially projecting saidarms.

18. Band-folding apparatus comprising a longitudinally-slottedband-supportingdrum, a longitudinally-movable slide telescoping said slide, coaxial therewith, for radially projecting the actuators and arms by its angular movement to initiate the fold and for then longitudinally projecting the slide and arms to complete the folding operation.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this-15th day of August, 1929.

JOHN R. GAMMETER. 

